We moved to the camper
We moved to the camper
Back in April 2016 I wrote a post about this, that we want to move to the RV.
At that time, however, my hatchlings, Joanna and Josy, were still teenagers and attending secondary school. Today, the two are in their mid and early 20s, respectively, and have both feet firmly planted in life.
Even then, I found this “higher, faster, further” awful and just wanted to “break out” of it all. This has not changed until today. Or rather, it’s actually gotten worse!
Full time camper in motorhome
Full-time camper in a motorhome? What does that mean now again? 😁
It’s simple: we live and work in the camper from now on! For the moment still “on time”. For the time being, we have set ourselves a timeframe of 6-9 months, with the prospect of an extension.
It’s been our plan for a long time that we work out of the RV. However, first the girls were still too small to put this plan into action and then the shipping hall prevented us from doing so.
For 3 years we had the shipping hall. Although we had also hired an employee for this afterwards, we did not want to run away and move (for a time) in the camper 😃. After all, a company somehow needs a “boss on site”. And so Frank was always on site. I could always get out of the affair well, because I was not registered in the trade license 😂. However…alone I also did not want to go away 😉.
Many things have prevented us from taking this step
And then there were the trade fairs. We had so many requests. We could have danced at a different fair every weekend. I can still remember a time when the fairs were held alternately in North and South Germany within 6 weeks. That’s when we really went to Adventure Southside in southern Germany on a weekend, back on Sunday. Off to the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf for a week. Then back to Bochum, loaded the trailer to jet north to Adventure Northside. Via Bochum back to fill the trailer with new goods and directly on our way to a small in-house exhibition in Freiburg. The following week the 1st Caravan & Co. took place in Rendsburg (North Germany 😁) – of course we were there 😁. And that was MEGA awesome! The Caravan & Co. has really enchanted us. A mega event.
And then it was back to Southern Germany again: The Freistaat MEGA STORE in Sulzemoos held its annual autumn festival. And since the Free State MEGA STORE has been a great retail partner of ours for years, we didn’t want to miss this event either.
It only went: North-South, South-North….
This was of course “pure stress”. However, we were already very happy at this point that we already had an employee for the shipping hall and, of course, that people were happy to meet us at a trade fair. In the past, when there was no shipping employee, we COULD not leave until Friday and HAD to be back on Monday so we could process the shipping of current orders. THAT was pure stress 😁. Because you have to consider that the traffic is full on Fridays, we don’t race down the highway at 150 km/h and we also had to set up our booth. Often we arrived at the fairgrounds only at 1:00 a.m. Then the alarm clock rang at 6:00 a.m. so that we could set up the booth before admission 🙈.
The fact that we hadn’t had a heart attack by then somehow bordered on a miracle – or on our loose, dorky attitude that we loved our “job” and it was tremendous fun. I think the 2nd will be it 😂.
And then came the jump
Our experience with online retail has shown us again that people always want more. Always cheaper. Preferably free of charge and still an encore. I can’t deal with this world. Only very few are happy with what they have. Many are envious.
“Envy has to be earned” is something I often hear. I do not need this! I don’t need people judging me or Frank without having gone our way.
That’s why Frank and I got out of all the online sales with the OMNIA©, OXO©, DREAMFARM© products. In our online store you will find only our own products – our cookbooks! Of course, we continue to distribute these. Shipping is just as lightning fast via a logistics center.
The time after the own mail order
In the time after we dissolved the dispatch hall and “got out”, we first had to reorient ourselves. Some ideas were then taken up and discussed in the team. Frank was the first one to really spill the beans that we were both working out of the motorhome from the beach. What was thought to be an absolute crackpot idea suddenly became the cornerstone for the next steps.
“Yes, you absolutely have to do that!” came back from the team. And of course you have to make your own YouTube channel for it.” And who should shoot the videos? “You guys, of course!” Yes, of course. Now they’re all going crazy. What pills have they actually forgotten?
Videos for YouTube
Before that, Dennis always shot the videos with me. But unfortunately I do without this luxury immediately, because Dennis somehow no longer wanted to separate from his partner (my daughter) Joanna spatially and also very attached to his Rottweilerlady Lia. Yes, you just have to set priorities.
Ok, that I’m shooting the videos now, I didn’t think it was gaaaaaay bad. The bigger problem I saw was Frank and his “speed of rotation.” You know when you’re filming with a camera and you think it’s snail’s pace, but then when you watch the video you think you’re in a Formula 1 race car doing laps around the Nürburgring? And it’s the same with Frank. I don’t expect Dennis to be able to slow down the speed of the videos he shoots to a point where they are watchable. My only hope is: Frank is capable of learning. Hope Dies Last….
Ok, we’ll put this (solvable) problem to one side. Because another problem is the upload of the video material.
Somehow, somewhere, we had to find a platform where I could upload the raw footage. Dennis can sift, edit and cut it afterwards and I can check it afterwards.
But Dennis and Frank solved this problem in no time: Frame.io was the solution!
On this platform we have the possibility to upload, download and upload everything that is necessary for the project.
Ok, videos for YouTube – CHECK!
Vanlife in motorhome
Ok. The work plan is in place. Now it goes to the plan “Vanlife in the camper”. A European tour is planned: Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal – always along the coast. Without highway and toll 🤗.
We started at one of our favorite places: Brouwersdam in South Holland, where we already go since 2010 regularly or also escape when it is again too crowded 😁.
And since we left a little late, we still had the opportunity to say goodbye to very dear friends:
Bo & Fromi from beach decor. We’ve known these two for a few years. And that was really a totally nice “goodbye” and a terrific start to our move into the RV.
And then it is time
So much has happened in the last few years. We have built an (unplanned) business. I quit my job after 27 years. Have reoriented ourselves and mastered many ups and downs that I never published.
And after my tibial plateau fracture I wasn’t really well anyway and everything came on top. A psychological up and down, with Frank not really doing well either. We were no longer “us.” And what we never wanted to do is bend (let) ourselves.
After we then gave up the stationary mail order business, the idea then came that we wanted to move into the mobile home.
But honestly, it’s one thing to plan something like this and “dream” it. But it’s another thing entirely when you actually implement it.
I am a person who then also makes nails with heads, as they say. I moved the motorhome in, out and around. Appointment made for inspection and tire change. Doctor’s appointments made and here again a small check-up.
I’ll have the plate in my knee taken out next spring when we go to Scandinavia via Bochum. Then we stay a few days in Bochum. The surgery is performed on an outpatient basis.
Farewell
We have not given notice on our apartment. Otherwise, the Josy would be homeless and that we could not bring over heart 😁. After all, she is still a student and as long as she is not financially secure, we will keep the apartment.
I was a bit queasy at the thought that I hadn’t had direct contact with my girls for a long time. Josy still said that we would then no longer be “tangible”. Yes, she is right! Let’s see how it will be Christmas for me….
And Hailey, Josy and Justin’s Rottweilerlady, was very sad when we left. As if she realized it was going to be a long goodbye. I miss the cuddly mouse very much – also Lia, the Rottweilerlady from Joanna & Dennis ❣️
Life in a confined space
Moving into a mobile home is something that many people do now. Somehow that has become a trend, I think. And then also the term “vanlife”. I absolutely have to make friends with that 🙈.
On Facebook and Instagram I have always mentioned:
“We are going on a trip to Europe for 6-9 months (with the prospect of an extension 😁)”
That had just the background that we also first look whether we like this “van life in the camper” also in the long run. From therefore it is also good that Josy still lives in our apartment 😁.
What definitely works very well is doing laundry on the go. You can find washing machines at any large supermarket. And Frank has now also learned that the laundry does not end up in the closet by itself, clean and folded 😂.
It does us good
Even if I became “heavy around the heart” in some situations. But at the same time I see that the new situation is good for us. Every time, we start to live again. And in every picture we look a little more relaxed.
And now we look forward to every new tomorrow. On the sunrise and are happy about what we have.
We don’t need “higher, faster, further.” We moved into the camper and live on 7sqm!
We really enjoy life to the fullest. We don’t know what’s coming. Too many have already left us. Too many who were the same age as us or even younger. Again and again we hear about diseases – heart attack, stroke or even cancer 😔.
We do not want to wait. We start. If not now, when?
Join us on YouTube!
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